Gas leak at Crown Point Strack and Van Til store
By Christin Nance Lazerus cnance@post-trib.com September 19, 2012 10:53AM
Maps
Updated: October 21, 2012 2:40PM
Customers and employees were allowed to re-enter the Crown Point Strack & Van Til on Wednesday more than an hour after natural gas started leaking behind the building.
Around 10:27 a.m., Crown Point Police and Fire departments received a call that people at the store, located at 200 W. Franciscan Drive, smelled natural gas. People were evacuated from the store, and Franciscan Drive was shut down between Main and Court streets.
Northern Indiana Public Service Co. spokeswoman Kathleen Szot said a company was digging in an area behind the supermarket to prepare for the installation of telecommunications lines and workers hit a gas line. Szot said the company had previously called NIPSCO about designating utility lines, but workers were digging in a nearby area where utility lines weren’t marked off.
Crown Point Fire Capt. Dave Crane said two people were treated at Franciscan St. Anthony Health-Crown Point. There were no other reports of affected people at nearby buildings, including Taft Middle School and St. Anthony.
NIPSCO arrived at the scene at 10:38 a.m. to help isolate the source of the gas leak. By 11:45 a.m., the gas levels had dropped significantly, and customers and employees were allowed to go back inside the building.
